Semi-monthly payroll transition

The Semi-Monthly Payroll Project Team is working hard to ensure a smooth transition to the new payroll cycle. As a result, the project team is constantly updating the Semi-Monthly Payroll Project Website with how-to documents, training videos and up-to-date information regarding the new pay cycle. Please check the website for submission deadlines, instructions for online time-entry, changes to online time approvals and more. And as always, if you have any questions regarding the changes, please contact ConnectionPoint or the Semi-Monthly Payroll Team!

Overview

General information

The decision to move to a semi-monthly pay frequency was triggered by the need to comply with the new provincial labour legislation by 2018. This change will impact all employees, paymaster groups, and scholarship and bursary recipients. The transition to a semi-monthly pay cycle will take place on January 1, 2018.

Each month will be divided into two pay periods. The first period will be from the 1st to the 15th and the second from the 16th to the end of the month. Salaried employees will be paid on the 15th and at the end of the month. Hourly employees will be paid for the first period on the 21st of the month and for the second period on the 6th of the succeeding month. Hourly-paid employees are paid six days in arrears to facilitate submission and processing of employee time transactions to ensure accurate pay. If a pay date falls on a non-working day, that pay date will be moved to the previous working day.

SK Employment Act of 2014

The primary driver for this change is to comply with the Saskatchewan Employment Act of 2014 which mandates that employers must pay their employees on their regular scheduled pay days, either monthly, semi-monthly or every 14 days. It also requires that payments be made not more than six calendar days after the end of the pay period.

Although this legislation still allows monthly salaried employees to be paid on a monthly basis, a decision to transition all employees, paymaster groups, and scholarship/bursary recipients to a semi-monthly pay frequency was made to promote consistency and administrative efficiency.

Consultation

The project team has engaged with the following stakeholders:

Colleges and departments managing a significant number of casual employees and those with non-standard operations (working nights, weekends and holidays, multiple locations, etc.)

Functional Teams who will be directly impacted by this project and will be required to make adjustments to their operational work

Paymaster groups and bargaining units were also informed about this change

Benefits of this Change

Students

Scholarship and bursary recipients are paid more frequently

Employees

Employees are paid more frequently

Timely receipt of earnings for casual employees

Potential to increase frequency of mortgage and loan payments

Provided with a more current leave accrual calculation

Pay frequency will be aligned with comparable institutions

Payroll Operations

More frequent pay dates will reduce the manual paycheque processing required for terminations, leaves, etc. that occur during the month

Opportunity to focus on process improvements and value-adding activities

What do I need to do?

Get ready for change!

Review available information and be aware of the transition schedule. Regular updates will be posted on this site, and other means of communication will be used to ensure you get the information you need.

Change in payroll cycle means change in cash flow. Review your budget, expenses, and financial obligations. You may need to revise your payment schedule if you have automatic payments set up for a mortgage, student loans, cellphone payments, car loans, etc. We encourage you to directly contact your financial institution and other related businesses ahead of time to make adjustments and ensure your payment schedule will align with the new semi-monthly pay dates.

Check for opportunities to benefit from this change. As an example, if you currently have a mortgage paid monthly, this may be an opportunity to make more frequent payments.